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Topic: Another generator issue (Read 2006 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #20 –
Quote from: ohsonew –
Joe, thanks for the info. I hope we both find out the issues. Where is the red light you are talking about? In the coach or on the generator itself? I don't remember seeing any light.

Larry

Mine is marked as a Fault on the dash= red light, located just above the Run= green light.  Also, on the generator itself located on the outside of the box is a series of light and what they represent.  To clear, I had to turn the main switch off and back on.  That is located on the front of the gen box as well.  Hope this helps!

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #21 –
Well I failed my own work. Lesson learned.
1. When replacing water pump. Ensure you apply proper amount of Rtv to make gasket.
2. Best to put on rear water hose and tighten it down on radiator before install.
3. Back shroud half. Bolts are hard to find with hand in blind mode. Best if you can raise coach pull forward generator and install by going up thru back.
4. Radiator will want to lean toward passenger side. Fan will make contact. Ensure you have radiator toward driver side.
5. The smaller half of shroud can be installed with all other parts in place.
6. New hoses can be purchased at o'Reilly s.
7. New alignment of tension pulley is correct.
With small shroud pulled you can see radiator somewhat. For sure you can stick phone in and take picture. Insulation does clog fins.
I have to pull apart everything due to waterpump leaking due to improper gasket. Dang it!.

Photo is mounts under radiator.

Shared album - mark hubbard - Google Photos

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #22 –
A useful tool is a handheld laser temperature gun. Useful to take generator tempture at below thermostat and above. Radiator tempture.
Use to see ac air tempture coming out vents.
Refrigerator tempture.
Just to give you ideas. Doesn't have to be high priced. Just has to work. Yes its coupon worthy at HF. Remember free whatever you chose.

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #23 –
Mark
  When I replaced my water pump it did not come with a gasket. I bought some gasket material at the parts store and made my own.

Mark

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #24 –
Well, worked on the gen and pulled electrical connections and put on some dielectric grease and button it back up.  Started right up and ran, so thought we were good to go!  Wrong!  Went inside and the remote on the Progressive EMS was on but no voltage coming in from the generator.  Checked the remote and it was showing an E-3 error, which is high voltage.  Generator was putting out 155 on leg 1 and 153 on leg 2.  So, it would not allow generator to supply power.  At least it was doing it's job!
Not sure where to go from here;  can anyone tell me where the voltage regulator is on this unit or is it built in?  Could the generator be running too fast and it needs to be idled down?
Any help would be appreciated.  The other day, it was working, but had trouble staying running.  Now, it is running fine and no electric.
Thanks in advance!

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #25 –
Warning
1. You have the voltage regulator that will destroy your head if not installed correctly.  Look for the comments and video about it here. Very good write ups.
2. Voltage regulator will be located In control box.  Which is inside the large silver box on left front of generator.

When the voltage regulator no longer provides stable current it reads as you are seeing.

The pros with your generator will be on asap. Part is a protect only part.  Heed warning. If you or pro installs.

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #26 –
Quote from: Texhub –
Warning
1. You have the voltage regulator that will destroy your head if not installed correctly.  Look for the comments and video about it here. Very good write ups.
2. Voltage regulator will be located In control box.  Which is inside the large silver box on left front of generator.

When the voltage regulator no longer provides stable current it reads as you are seeing.

The pros with your generator will be on asap. Part is a protect only part.  Heed warning. If you or pro installs.

Thanks Tex, I have been reading the issues on this install now.  Not sure if I need a voltage regulator as of yet.  Will most likely have to wait until Monday and call PT.  Just seems strange that I had a starting issue and now have a voltage issue.

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #27 –
Generator Topics Recap

Read!

Also of course. Go back check all that you touched. I had no luck with call back from Jeff. The guru of troubleshooting. By no means should you purchase a Vr on my reply. Just find the extensive writeups about your Vr and its special setup. My 8k is plug and play. Look for July 2019 writeups.  That's when I was at SS, dealing with my problems.

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #28 –
Follow up on our generator problems;  contacted Jeff today at Power Tech and sent him some photos of our voltage regulator.  The one we have is adjustable, so waiting to hear back on which way to adjust and how much.  Also don't really want to stick my hand in there with the generator running if that is not necessary.  lol
When you look at the photo, ours has an enclosed box on top of generator and with the top off, you can see the light tan voltage regulator.  You will also see a small half inch long by quarter inch high blue rectangular raised section on reg.  There is a small common screw in there and that is the adjustment.  Once I find out how much and which way, I will post results.
Also, in my playing around with the generator running, the 5 amp and 10 amp fuse on the box are some times sensitive and this could be the cause of the intemittant start/stop issues we all are having.  Make sure they both are snug in their holders.

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #29 –
Shared album - mark hubbard - Google Photos

When mine was done at SS. the tech was reading the output that the new vr was putting out. He then used proper size screwdriver, while watching the reading. To dial it to 120.

Pictures are of new Vr.

Bad vr was reading 160. I took picture of his multimeter leads , but they are unusable to show where he was reading. Guess with no load. You could have a person monitor inside reading. As you slowly turn the pot screw. Bet right is up, left is down. After finish I did. Watch inside as load was placed. Seeing it drop and then stabilize. Also as I have had ongoing issues. That and sound have been first warning of pending shutdown.

Back of old vr was worn clean of all markings.

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #30 –
Well, the adjustments didn't work.  We have a large disparity on the two legs of our 110.  Leg one is anywhere from 140 to 150 after adjustment and Leg 2 was between 107 and 115. No matter what I did, never could get both within a volt or two of each.  Not good!  Called Jeff back and we will be heading down to Leesburg in about 3 weeks with no generator.  He hated to speculate, but it may be the generator windings.  Who knows!  Keeping my fingers crossed, but at this point, anything could be the issue.  As of now, no generator till we get there!  I will say this, we had foam insulation all up inside the generator compartment and we just had this serviced in June, so don't know why nobody said anything about the loose insulation.  This could have caused the issue with the generator, but don't know at this point. 

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #31 –
Quote from: juicesqueezer –
Well, the adjustments didn't work.  We have a large disparity on the two legs of our 110.  Leg one is anywhere from 140 to 150 after adjustment and Leg 2 was between 107 and 115. No matter what I did, never could get both within a volt or two of each.  Not good!  Called Jeff back and we will be heading down to Leesburg in about 3 weeks with no generator.  He hated to speculate, but it may be the generator windings.  Who knows!  Keeping my fingers crossed, but at this point, anything could be the issue.  As of now, no generator till we get there!  I will say this, we had foam insulation all up inside the generator compartment and we just had this serviced in June, so don't know why nobody said anything about the loose insulation.  This could have caused the issue with the generator, but don't know at this point. 
Joe
This is just a guess but sometimes when you have voltage differences it is because of an open neutral. This can be due to loose or corroded connections. Normally this is caused by an unbalanced load on the system. As one hot leg goes up the other hot leg will go down by about the same voltage.
As always just my two cents but might check it out.
Ron

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #32 –
Quote from: rclark –
Joe
This is just a guess but sometimes when you have voltage differences it is because of an open neutral. This can be due to loose or corroded connections. Normally this is caused by an unbalanced load on the system. As one hot leg goes up the other hot leg will go down by about the same voltage.
As always just my two cents but might check it out.
Ron

Thanks for the information on this Ron.  However, it that was the case, wouldn't the shore power be an issue as well?  Our EMS won't even allow voltage to come past the EMS itself with the generator running. 
Jeff said to call him when we arrive at or near Leesburg and he will come out and check out system.  We will make reservations at 3 Flags, which is right there at the Villages and Leesburg.  Of course, the more we travel south, the warmer it has gotten.  Something else to deal with!

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #33 –
I agree on the loose neutral theory ..... But.....
most of our generators are wired in parallel and output is 120v only. In a 120/240 volt setup the loose neutral can and will cause an imbalance.
With a 120v parallel configuration and a properly working regulator I don't see how the voltage could be higher than the set voltage.
Maybe I'm missing something in my understanding of the problem?

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #34 –
Check
 insulation

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #35 –
This gets more interesting as time goes on.  Will be intresting to read.
1. Jeff troubleshooting efforts. Who, what when, where. Tools if any.
2. Results
3. Overview of your generator and its installation. Pro/con

A chance to have the Gruru of PT actually hands on a FT coach.!

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #36 –
Quote from: Texhub –
This gets more interesting as time goes on.  Will be intresting to read.
1. Jeff troubleshooting efforts. Who, what when, where. Tools if any.
2. Results
3. Overview of your generator and its installation. Pro/con

A chance to have the Gruru of PT actually hands on a FT coach.!

We will know soon!  We just arrived at Twin Lakes RV Resort in Chocowinity, NC.  Going to cut our 2 week stay here short, head out to Oaks at Point South in SC and then hope to be at 3 Flags RV Resort around the 23rd if not sooner.  Jeff said he can come over to the RV park and check out the gen.  Keeping our fingers crossed, but doesn't sound good!  Will give all an update with Jeff's diagnose of the issues as soon as we know.

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #37 –
Well, a quick follow up;  arrived at Three Flags around 4:15 yesterday and before I could call Jeff from Power Tech, he called me and said he could come over within an hour or so.  Jeff showed with his mechanic and proceeded to check out the regulator.  Diagnosed a bad regulator and installed a new one and checked the system out with all three airs running on gen.  Good to go!  Hopefully, that is the end of this issue and will be nice to have generator again going down the road for some cooler air.  Hey, it's warm here compared to where we were.
Can't say enough about the service we got from Jeff and his service tech.  They did both comment on how quite this generator was and didn't even hiccup when the gen started to generate power.  Basic diagnosis was done with a voltage meter only.

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #38 –
Thank you for sharing your dealings with this issue. Fantastic that you were able to actually have such response from Jeff and tech. You mentioned 3 ac? And how quiet. How is your setup different then stock setup.?  I went back and read over all comments. Could you list your model generator. Tks Mark

Re: Another generator issue

Reply #39 –
Quote from: Texhub –
Thank you for sharing your dealings with this issue. Fantastic that you were able to actually have such response from Jeff and tech. You mentioned 3 ac? And how quiet. How is your setup different then stock setup.?  I went back and read over all comments. Could you list your model generator. Tks Mark

Mark, our coach has 3 Dometic Airs on top.  Not sure if that was an option at the time or what.  It is only a 40 footer and normally only has 2.  It is as quite as anything moving air can be, could be a little quieter according to DW.  Normally, the 42 foot has 3.  Our generator is a 10K Kubota!